“Porter style beers were first popularized in the nineteenth century by merchant sailors and manual dock laborers,” the label reads. “Unemployed Reporter is crafted in the same tradition, honoring a profession likewise doomed to decline and irrelevance.”

For this new class of “expendables,” the label goes on, “we’ve included chocolate and roasted barley malts that are as dark and bitter as the future of American journalism, and a high alcohol content designed to numb the pain of a slow, inexorable march toward obsolescence. While Unemployed Reporter is especially delicious as a breakfast beer, it’s still smooth enough to be enjoyed all day, every day. And let’s be honest: what else do you have going on?”

I try not to indulge the poor-me emotions of the news business, but I applaud this guy for turning sour grapes into beer.

ASH ROWELL, 1977-2013

Finally, please keep the family of Ash Rowell in your thoughts. Rowell, who built up and recently sold his successful Duff Beer Distribution, was killed at his home Friday night. It was a shocking and tragic turn for one of the nicest guys in the local beer business.

Rowell took on Southern Star, No Label and other brands and really helped get these smaller craft brewers into the marketplace. Said Flying Saucer regional manager Jake Rainey: “He cared. He was a fun, happy person. He had a big heart.”

And when it came to promoting specialty beers, Rainey said,”He introduced them to people who had never heard of them before and got them drinking good beers.”